Phoenixville’s McDonnell drills buzzer beater to down Spring-Ford in OT
ROYERSFORD >> Chase McDonnell’s first shot of the night was rejected by the curtain hanging from the ceiling at Spring-Ford’s 9th grade center gym.
The Phoenixville senior guard let another high-arcing three-pointer fly with a tie game and the clock winding down in overtime.
“Thank god they keep the curtains on the other side of the court,” a Phoenixville assistant remarked as the Phantoms walked off the court with a 61-58 overtime win over the Rams.
McDonnell’s last second three with a defender in his face barely even touched the net as it swished through the hoop to give Phoenixville a Pioneer Athletic Conference Crossover win.
“That play really wasn’t run for me,” McDonnell said. “It was a broken play, so I thought I’d come behind my teammate, and I caught the ball. I hit one earlier in the game. I was in rhythm, one, two, and I really wasn’t thinking about it. I just shot.
“That was probably one of the most crazy experiences I’ve had with basketball. I don’t think I’ve ever hit a shot like that.”
.@Phantom_Hoops’s Gabe Massenburg beat the buzzer in regulation and Chase McDonnell knocked off Spring-Ford with a 3 in OT in Tuesday’s 61-58 win. pic.twitter.com/ASeoE8nqcS
— Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue) January 5, 2022
FINAL: Phoenixville 61, Spring-Ford 58. … Chase McDonnell beats the buzzer in OT! pic.twitter.com/xz4lHMxlIz
— Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue) January 5, 2022
Senior forward Gabe Massenburg led the way for Phoenixville (4-2, 1-0 PAC) with 19 points as he and opposing big man Gavin Schauder, who finished with 18 for Spring-Ford (5-3, 1-2 PAC), battled throughout the night.
With the Phantoms trailing 51-47 and under a minute left in regulation, Massenburg scored two straight buckets to tie the game. His lay-up with no time left in regulation off a feed from Max Lebisky evened the score, 51-51, to send the game into overtime.
“I was down in the paint, caught it,” Massenburg said. “I didn’t know how much time I had left, so I just put it up and finished it.”
Senior Zavier Mayo, who assisted on the game-winner, scored 16 and McDonnell finished with 12 for the Phantoms. McDonnell, who swished several shots after his first attempt, also beat the buzzer at the end of the third to send the Phantoms into the fourth with a 37-36 advantage.
“I get a lot of arc on my shot,” McDonnell said. “Even that last one got up pretty high. Our gym’s a little higher than that, so I didn’t expect to hit the curtain.”
Sophomore E.J. Campbell scored 15 points for Spring-Ford and senior Braden Huntington netted 11 to join Schauder in double figures. Schauder mid-range jumper tied the game 58-58 with 11.4 seconds left in overtime before McDonnell’s winner.
The Rams have dropped three of their last four after a 4-0 start, including a last-second loss to Perkiomen Valley. Tuesday’s contest was the team’s third overtime game.
Spring-Ford led 51-47 with under a minute to play in regulation and went up 56-53 with under two minutes to play in overtime, but couldn’t finish things out either time due to missed free throws and poor decision making.
“The kids battled,” Spring-Ford coach Joe Dempsey said. “I said to them I’m disappointed. The kid hit a tough shot, but we did too many silly things down the stretch. We just shot ourselves in the foot. … Sooner or later it bites you. You sort of get the luck that you make.”
Mayo to Lebisky to Massenburg. Phoenixville ties to 51-51 just before the buzzer to send this game to OT. What a find by Max Lebisky and finish by Gabe Massenburg. pic.twitter.com/reBVUAnJAb
— Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue) January 5, 2022
The Rams were without five varsity players, including leading scorer Jake Kressley. Schauder, Campbell and Huntington all had season-highs, freshman Jacob Nguyen scored eight and junior Alex Lewis had six.
“He’s been absolutely terrific,” Dempsey said of Huntington. “He’s a senior, he’s been a great leader, he’s the first one in the gym. He’s just a great kid to coach, does everything you ask. … He’s been coming on. He ended up starting tonight because we were missing five people, but he’s coming on anyway. He’s giving us terrific.”
After three one-possession losses in three straight seasons to their big school rival, Tuesday’s victory was Phoenixville first against the Rams since a 70-69 win on Dec. 14, 2016.
“We play Spring-Ford every year, and we don’t always get the ‘dub’ when we come out of that game,” McDonnell said. “Especially because our coach Eric Burnett is a former Spring-Ford student and player, it’s cool to come in here and finally get a win.”
Tuesday’s Game
Phoenixville 61, Spring-Ford 58
PHOENIXVILLE: Smith 0 0-0 0, Stec 0 0-0 0, McDonnell 5 0-0 12, Pekofsky 0 0-0 0, Matta 0 0-0 0, Mayo 6 1-1 16, Masseburg 9 1-1 19, English 0 0-0 0, Kuranda 3 0-0 7, Lebisky 3 0-2 7, Totals 26 2-4 61.
SPRING-FORD: Nguyen 3 0-0 8, Campbell 6 2-3 15, Schauder 7 1-2 18, Lewis 3 0-0 6, Huntington 5 0-1 11, Turner 0 0-0 0, Little 0 0-0 0, Kelly 0 0-0 0, Totals 24 3-6 58.
Phoenixville 9 12 16 14 10-61
Spring-Ford 11 18 7 15 7-58
3-point goals: PX – McDonnell 2, Mayo 3, Kuranda, Lebisky; SF – Nguyen 2, Campbell, Schauder 3, Huntington.
